Infrastructure

The tender for the acquisition of the infrastructure

The infrastructure of storage has been acquired through a tender in 2005, won by the Sun StorageTek company.

The challenges of this tender were as follows:

• to ensure that all the components:
  • will satisfy the objectives of level of service as well as of performances for the storage;
  • will provide the necessary evolutivity needed for the exploitation and the enrichment of the infrastructure in the next years.
• to ensure the BnF containment on costs containment for present and future investments based on the principles of openness.
• to minimize future costs of exploitation and to ensure easiness of implementation.
• to allow for the monitoring of the system by providing means to realize the administration globally.
• to ensure the security and confidentiality of the information.

General view of the infrastructure of SPAR

The infrastructure of SPAR is made of a set of components (hardware and drivers) distributed on two distinct sites. This distribution is the guarantee of a high availability of the system an the data.

The main site is the prefered access path to the system for producers and users of the data.

A backup site has been build for the dependability of the system and to enable it to take part to the Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).

diagram giving a general view of the infrastructure of SPAR

© BnF

The above schema shows the different components of this archival infrastructure in its normal operations.

Main storage unit (SSP)

This unit is based on tape technology with quick access time. It's the tape library containing the main copy of the archived data.

Backup storage unit (SSB)

This unit is based on tape technology with high density. It's the backup tape library containing the second copy of the archived data.

Side storage unit (SSS)

It consists of disk arrays, available for temporary data not necessary permanent but that require storage. It contains in particular the data before ingesting by the Archive.

Access storage unit (SSC)

It consists of disk arrays, available for data made for display and in need of quick access. It contains mainly data build for dissemination over Internet.

Constraints

In order to ensure maximum sustainability of the infrastructure, constraints are imposed upon the choice of components.

Openness of the solution

• openness to multiple environments
• compatibility with a large number of suppliers

Availability

• reliability of the various components
• use of the system: 24h/24h, 7d/7d, 365d/year
• Maximum time of halt of the system : 2h per month

Scalability

• large potential in size and power
• possibility to cover the needs over 8 years